A Litttle White Lie
by kaelaa
Summary: Hermione is trying to find some peace in the library. Why can't these crazy fangirls just leave her alone? Don't they understand that she's just Harry's and Ron's best friend? Not their mother! And certainly not one of their girlfriends! Right? Oneshot.


A/N Hey guys, this is just a little one-shot from the Letters to Ron universe. You don't necessarily have to read that to understand this oneshot. I always was going to post this after I was done with Letters to Ron, but its been lying around in my computer for a while gathering dust, I thought I should just post it up. I've trying my best to finish up Letters to Ron. I've gotten the basic outline out for a long time but its been a little difficult fleshing the rest out. Until then, I humbly offer this little ficcie to keep your interests, I hope. Oh, disclaimer. I do not own Harry Potter. That should be pretty obvious, so don't sue thank you.

**A Little White Lie**

Hermione Granger frowned. The Hogwarts Library was not as quiet as it should be. She looked up from her Potions essay, not surprised to see a group of girls hovering near her table. She tried to place them in a particular house, before realising that they were all from different houses. She raised an eyebrow. That was peculiar, there was very little inter-house interactions outside of lessons. She actually spied one or two Slytherins within the mix and smiled wryly, well at least some good came out of this fiasco. Turning her attention back to her Potions essay, Hermione sighed audibly, the same fiasco that caused her to escape the common room.

She probably was the only Gryffindor who would call that match against Ravenclaw a fiasco, seeing that her house had given the Ravenclaws a good thumping. Yet it was that same blasted match that gave rise to the sudden surge in female attention for her two best friends. She sniggered to herself, oh the boys would have a field day if they knew she swore in her thoughts. She had fled the common room earlier in the day because she had grown tired of the Gryffindor boys enthusiastically discussing the match, replaying each save, each goal, each dangerous manoeuvre. More importantly, she needed to escape from the scene of some very poorly disguised flirting from the Gryffindor girls. Harry and Ron, to their credit, had looked quite uncomfortable but she could hardly concentrate when some girls kept giggling at whatever Ron said, even when it wasn't meant to be funny, and batting their lashes at Harry, asking him to show them his battle scars.

Alas, the library was no better. She thought that without the two boys flanking her, she could get somewhere without much attention, but some particularly desperate females had tracked her down to the library, and were currently sending notes flying to her table. She frowned, just how many times did they expect her to answer their questions? Harry's favourite colour was not going to change in a span of two minutes! And hadn't she already said that Ron would eat anything? These girls were absolutely mental. She would not tolerate such frivolousness in this sanctuary of learning! Rolling her eyes, she banished those notes to their respective writers with a lazy flick of her wand.

Unsurprisingly, the group of girls hadn't gotten the hint and once more, Hermione found numerous crumpled pieces of parchments, filled with questions, lying on her table. She was so frustrated, she felt like she was going to pull her hair out! Couldn't those girls bother someone else? She had to bite her tongue to keep herself from yelling at them, she was sure Madam Pince would not appreciate her disturbing the silence (or what was left of it) in the library. She considered briefly giving the girls the password to the Gryffindor common room. They could direct their questions to the boys themselves. Perhaps a catfight would ensue between them as they fought for attention? She shook her head ruefully, reminding herself that she was a prefect and should therefore not encourage any sort of rule-breaking.

Looking down at her essay again, she realised she hadn't gone beyond six inches and blew on her fringe in exasperation. Deciding she needed a breather, she dug around her bag for another book to take her mind of the rather sad present state of matters. She pulled out her Charms textbook and saw a piece of parchment sticking out between the pages. Smiling, she pulled out the parchment. Perhaps, she would reply a letter first.

She felt the group of girls milling around her grow restless. She hadn't replied any more of their notes. Hoping that they would finally grow tired of waiting and leave, she concentrated on her reply, still amazed at the fact that she and Ron had actually kept up with these letters. She wasn't daft. She could see quite plainly Ron was flirting with her in his little notes but since he wasn't making things explicit, they would have to hang in limbo a while longer. Even Harry had started noting changes in their, _dare I say it? _'relationship' but had wisely refrained from making comments, although she spotted Ron and him exchanging quick muffled words when they thought she wasn't looking.

She sensed some sort of movement from the group of girls and breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, they were going to leave her alone. Finishing up the letter and signing her name with a flourish, all the while with a little smile on her face, she didn't notice the blonde in front of her until she cleared her throat. Startled, she looked up, and realised the blonde was looking slightly nervous, her hand clutching a toothpick that was coloured red at the bottom. Hermoine felt the corners of her lips turn up slightly, had they actually drawn lots to see who would approach her?

"Er, hi." The blonde offered in greeting, "I'm Daphne, mind if I sit down?"

_That depends on what you're going to ask. _Hermione cursed herself for having good manners and shook her head, albeit a bit reluctantly, and motioned to the chair in front of her. "So, what was it you wanted?"

"It's about Ron."

Hermione involuntarily stiffened. _Ron. How dare she say his name like that? Do they even know each other? _"Hmm," she managed in a rather airy voice, busying herself with shuffling her papers around, "What about Ron?"

"I like him." The blonde said, this time in a clearer voice than before. Her voice travelled back to the group of girls watching intently a table away and they giggled in unison at that statement.

Hermione fought the urge to roll her eyes and said in the most neutral tone she could muster, "Before or after the Ravenclaw match?"

The blonde flinched and Hermione mentally gave herself a pat on the back as she started shoving her papers into her bag. There was no point in staying in the library any longer, perhaps she could retire to her dorm for some peace and quiet. She stood up and was about to bid Daphne farewell when Daphne said, "I've liked him ever since I got here. Even before he tried out for the team."

Hermoine hadn't been expecting that so for a few moments she didn't speak. She felt a sense of admiration for the girl, being able to declare her affection for Ron like that was something Hermione had never been brave enough to do. She looked Daphne in the eye, "That's nice, and you're telling this to me because?"

Daphne took a deep breath, "I heard the both of you were dating."

Hermione cocked her head, "Will that stop you?"

Daphne smiled rather triumphantly back at her, "Frankly? No. But if you aren't dating Ron, it would make things a lot less complicated."

"Oh, how so?" Hermione asked, her voice rising an octave. Madam Pince looked up from her counter in the front of the library and frowned as she shushed them.

"Well for starters," Daphne said thoughtfully, curling a loose tendril around her finger, and paying the librarian no heed, "I wouldn't have to steal him away from you."

Hermione hated blondes. Why did all these nasty girls have blonde, shiny hair? The rational side of her argued that she was being prejudiced and biased, but the irrational side of her couldn't help but wish she could somehow chop those locks off. Hermione flashed a tight smile at that girl, "Well, good luck then."

She spun on her heel and made to walk out of the library but as if her legs belonged to someone else, she found herself turning back and walking to Daphne. The blonde shot her a questioning look, as did the group of girls (mainly Hufflepuffs she noted) lurking nearby, each still holding on to their toothpicks. Then as if her mouth didn't belong to her either, she told the blonde and all the girls that were listening in on their conversation, "Yes, we're dating. And you can try but I'm pretty sure Ron is quite happy with me."

As she walked out the library, leaving a burst of whispering in her wake, she felt a vain sense of satisfaction. Her mother had taught her that nothing good can come out of lying but she reassured herself that it was going to happen eventually anyway. She had merely informed those crazy fangirls of that fact prematurely. A sense of exhilaration filled her, it wasn't often she broke the rules. She looked down at her feet and silently applauded them for turning back when she ran into the same person that had been invading her thoughts not too long ago.

"Ron? What are you doing here?"

He grinned at her, "What? I'm a student here, quite entitled to be anywhere around the castle really."

Hermoine laughed in response, "You're outside the library, I think I reserve the right to be appropriately surprised."

"Fine, I was looking for you. Figured you ran off to the library." Ron conceded, running his fingers through his hair. Hermione felt her breath hitch at that little action.

"Oh."

He smiled at her again, that lopsided grin. Taking her book bag from her and slinging it over his shoulders, he asked, "So finished whatever you were doing?"

She shook her head and was about to tell him of her misadventure in the library when the group of girls exited, eyes widening at the sight of Ron in the middle of the hallway. Deciding against her previous rote of action, she hooked their arms together and proceeded to drag him down the corridor, pleasantly surprising Ron as he opened his strides to keep up with her, smiling as she rattled on about how she hadn't finished her Potions essay. Hermione felt, rather than saw the glares that were thrown at her back so as she and Ron rounded the corner, she couldn't resist turning around and sticking her tongue out in a very immature fashion. Ron really brought out the kid in her.

She turned back to the red-head, who was currently telling her about how Harry had panicked when one of the girls had sat on his lap, in full view of Ginny, resulting in him shooting upright and sending said girl tumbling into the fireplace, where her hair caught fire. She smiled brightly at him and slipped her letter into the pocket of his robes, causing him to turn an alarming shade of red. Hermione noticed he hadn't unhooked their arms. Well, she certainly wasn't going to be the one to do it then. Smiling to herself, she realised that for once, things were going to plan, and she hadn't even followed the rules.

XXX

My little one-shot, out take from Chapter 3 of Letters to Ron. If you guys enjoyed it, drop me a review! If you didn't, er, drop me a review too! I'll really appreciate any sort of constructive criticism.


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